After being on campus for a week I cannot wait to finally arrive in Louisiana! I am excited to leave cold Schenectady and get to work in warm New Orleans and Dulac. On Friday we learned how to handle and use power tools, sheet rock, and electric saws. At first I was a little nervous to learn how to use the tools, but now I am excited to put my new skills to use! I am really looking forward to meeting the people who live in the Dulac community and hearing their personal stories from Hurricane Katrina, Hurricane Rita, and the Deepwater Horizon oil spill for my thesis. I am interested in gaining an understanding on how their lives have changed since the disasters, how they are trying to cope, how they see their situation in the future, and how they see the government is helping them deal with the disaster. By going to Louisiana it is going to be much more of a learning experience to actually witness the situations people have been going through from what we have been reading and discussing about first hand .

This trip will be amazing cultural experience to learn about a different culture and community. I can’t wait to arrive this afternoon and begin the trip with our great NOLA Community Service 2010  group!